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The pomp and circumstance of the 1980 MLB All-Star Game was concise, confined to the pregame ceremonies and the two-and-a-half hour game that followed. Besides the game, the workout the day before, and a formal luncheon in between, there were no obligations on the players. ‘Everybody stayed at the hotel,’ Dodgers shortstop Bill Russell said. ‘They had a luncheon for them (the players). Other than that, it’s just come to the ballpark.’ (Photo courtesy of Jerry Reuss)

LOS ANGELES — Jerry Turner hand-wrote every name on a piece of paper and posted them above the metal lockers in the old visitors’ clubhouse. This is how the American League All-Stars knew where to hang their uniforms on July 8, 1980, the last time an All-Star Game was held at Dodger Stadium.

A’s outfielder Rickey Henderson and Blue Jays pitcher Dave Stieb were in for a surprise. Turner misspelled their names “Steib” and “Hendeson,” respectively. Turner, who manages the umpires’ room at Dodger Stadium, can laugh about the typos now. It’s been a long time.

When the All-Star Game returns to Los Angeles in 2020, the nameplates figure to be printed, glossy and proofread. This is but a drop of water in an ocean of changes over the last 38 years. Major League Baseball has inflated its congregation of All-Stars from a one-off game to a four-day procession of speeches, clinics, autograph sessions and corporate grip-and-grins across the host community.

Gil Cedillo, who represents Los Angeles’ first district on the City Council, said the economic impact of the 2020 game will be counted in the tens of millions of dollars.

“Restaurants, cafes, hotels, bars, the cleanup of all that activity – it’s kind of like extra work for our city,” he said. “The economy of our city is driven a lot by tourism, sports and entertainment, and that’s what generates the service aspect of our economy. We’re a service economy city. It’s just a real win-win-win.”

To appreciate just how far the All-Star Game has come, begin with a look back at 1980.

‘IT’S JUST COME TO THE BALLPARK’

Dodger Stadium opened its gates on July 7, 1980, the day before the game. Players worked out on the field, but there was no Home Run Derby, no Futures Game, no celebrity softball game or formal autograph session. Fans showed up anyway.

“People were waiting anxiously,” said Jaime Jarrin, the Dodgers’ veteran Spanish-language broadcaster. “People started coming to Dodger Stadium just to see what the game was going to be. There was a workout, but really the city was very much involved in the game. They had never had it. Peter (O’Malley, the Dodgers’ owner) did a great job promoting the game.”

Fans had one additional reason to get an early peek at the field: The rectangular video board known as “Diamond Vision” was set to make its debut above the left field bleachers. Reportedly built at a cost of $3.5 million, Diamond Vision was touted as the largest color television in the world by its supervisor. It was 20 feet tall and 28 feet wide. The largest video screen currently in baseball, at Progressive Field in Cleveland, is 221 feet wide and 59 feet tall.

Diamond Vision endured at Dodger Stadium for 32 years. It was replaced by the existing hexagon-shaped high-definition screen in 2012.

Attendance for the game was announced at 56,088, a sellout. ABC’s national telecast attracted more than 36 million viewers. It remains the second-most watched All-Star Game ever. Howard Cosell, Keith Jackson, Al Michaels, Don Drysdale and Bob Uecker comprised the TV broadcast team. Vin Scully and Brent Musberger had the radio call.

Michaels, who was five months removed from calling the “Miracle on Ice” Olympic hockey game in Lake Placid, N.Y., regularly tag-teamed ABC’s biggest baseball games with Jackson in those days. Cosell “cherry-picked” his appearances as a color commentator, Michaels said.

Pitcher Jerry Reuss, one of the Dodgers’ six All-Stars, recalled that one of the ABC producers had a request for him before the game.

“In the event you get into the game could you stall for 10 or 15 seconds, because we wanted to show a highlight of your no-hitter that you threw a week before. I said sure, I’ll try,” Reuss recalled.

Reuss entered the game in the sixth inning. Before throwing a pitch, he motioned to Phil Garner, the second baseman from the Pittsburgh Pirates, to come to the mound. They dutifully chatted for a few seconds.

“I said, ‘have you seen anything like that TV before?’” Reuss asked Garner, referring to Diamond Vision. “Everybody thought we were talking about scouting reports. We were talking about TVs.”

That captured the leisurely attitude around the event. The pomp and circumstance was concise, confined to the pregame ceremonies and the two-and-a-half hour game that followed. Besides the game, the workout the day before, and a formal luncheon in between, there were no obligations on the players.

“Everybody stayed at the hotel,” Dodgers shortstop Bill Russell said. “They had a luncheon for them (the players). Other than that, it’s just come to the ballpark.”

Scully emceed the luncheon, which was held at the Biltmore Hotel in downtown Los Angeles.

“Vinny looks at the group and says – I’m paraphrasing – I know a lot of you would probably rather be home or be out fishing for three days,” Michaels said, “but you ought to think about one thing: it is a blink of the eye between an All-Star Game and an Old Timers’ Game. That was so perfectly put.”

THE GAME

The game did not go off without a hitch. By the first inning, a fire had broken out in the dry summer grass of Elysian Park. Helicopters were summoned to douse the flames. The fire was extinguished within an hour.

Gerald Ford, three years removed from his final day as president, attended the game. He sat next to Commissioner Bowie Kuhn on the field level, puffing on a pipe. Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti sat in the Commissioner’s box as well. They were likely not among those who booed pitcher Tommy John during pregame introductions; John left the Dodgers to sign with the Yankees as a free agent in 1977.

John did not get the last laugh. The National League was held hitless for the first four innings. The American League broke through against Dodgers pitcher Bob Welch in the fifth inning on a two-run home run by Fred Lynn. Ken Griffey Sr. ended the no-hit bid with a home run of his own against John. The American League led 2-1.

In the sixth inning, John allowed five consecutive batters to reach base, on four singles and an error. Two runs scored. The NL ultimately won 4-2, its ninth consecutive All-Star Game victory. Reuss was the winning pitcher and Griffey was named MVP.

“For me, it was a great honor to come to Dodger Stadium – a stadium that you don’t get to see when you’re in the American League,” said Rick Honeycutt, the Seattle Mariners pitcher who has been the Dodgers’ pitching coach since 2006.

“For my parents, it was the first time to see me actually play in the All-Star Game,” said Reggie Smith, a Dodgers outfielder. “On the bitter side of it, I blew my arm out in that game making a throw. It kind of changed the direction of my career. I held the runner to a single but I had to have surgery.”

FROM A GAME TO A ‘CELEBRATION’

The Home Run Derby was added to the slate of activities for the 1985 All-Star Game in Minneapolis. The Futures Game, a showcase for the top minor league prospects in every organization, was added in 1999. By the turn of the century, the 1980 version would seem quaint.

When the All-Star Game came to San Diego in 2016, the list of league-sponsored events included a yoga pose, the dedication of a renovated softball field, a 5K run and a children’s hospital visit.

“It’s gone from being a game to being a four-day celebration of baseball,” Commissioner Rob Manfred said. “Our goal in expanding the event is just to give more people the opportunity to participate in the All-Star Game festivities.”

That four-day “celebration” could expand further in the next two years.

“One of the things we’ve had a lot of discussion about are events that are not core baseball events,” Manfred said. “Concerts; we have a great food-related event that we’re doing in New York next week. We’ve talked about that being part of the All-Star Game program. Anything that draws more people that are not our avid hardcore fans to the All-Star Game programming is important to us.”

Dodgers president and CEO Stan Kasten has been pressing to bring the event back to Los Angeles since Guggenheim Baseball Management purchased the franchise in 2012. Years of tumult followed the O’Malley family selling the team in 1997, and that didn’t help the Dodgers’ cause. The relative stability of the last six years did.

When the All-Star Game finally returns, it will be a different animal.

“I know that was a great moment,” Dodgers coach Manny Mota said of the 1980 game, “but this is going to be better.”